Segla and Barden: my best day (so far)

We had beautiful weather again for our hike today, which is good because it was longer than yesterday’s walk up Hesten and had a lot more ascent. We (I… John was always going to be able to 🤭) managed to do both Segla and Barden, and the views were stunning all the way round. It really has been a wonderful day.

We started from the same place as yesterday, but the trail branched off along a track to a little hut with a bbq/firepit in it. From here, there was a boardwalk, then the gradient steepened until we reached the ridge with cliffs straight down to the sea ahead of us.

At the ridge, we branched right and began the relentlessly steep (over 300m) climb up to the rocky summit of Segla. As we clambered over rocks and boulders, and tried not to slip on the mud and loose soil, at times I wondered if we’d ever reach the top… not helped by a delay on my Garmin watch in updating our elevation!

At the top, there were huge sheer drops straight down to the sea. John peeked over the edge but doesn’t like exposure so he stayed back after that. I wandered around more but also didn’t get too close!

Having seen Segla from Hesten yesterday, it looked impossibly steep to hike up but, by sneaking round the back it wasn’t so bad. It still feels like an achievement though! From the top, we could see where we’d walked up Hesten yesterday and all the way to the end of the peninsula, and where we’d walk next, along the ridge to Barden.

While we were at the summit, we chatted to a Danish family, the only other people up there. They were celebrating one of the sons completing his Masters and offered us some Champagne. Unfortunately, we had to decline because we didn’t have cups… probably sensible anyway as we still had a long hike ahead of us!

After taking lots of photos and drone shots, we returned back the way we had come. The descent wasn’t as bad as we’d expected, although I was glad of my pole. We soon arrived back on the ridge, ready to rest our tired knees and have a snack and a drink.

From the foot of Segla, the route up the ridge to the summit of Barden looked long, steep and narrow. John was anxious about some narrow upper sections where there would be a 600m drop straight to the sea!

We set off and the scenery was undulating, rising gradually through rocky outcrops and birch woods. Everywhere was a wonderful vibrant green and I think Barden’s the prettiest mountain we’ve climbed.

After a while, the gradient became much tougher and we met a Frenchman who told us it was very steep and slippery ahead, and asked if we climbed. This rang alarm bells! But we know from experience that it’s usually easier to scramble up rather than down. We decided to give it a go and turn back if it was too scary.

We did come across some challenging sections, which were vertical, muddy and slippery, and needed careful selection of hand and footholds. We were very glad of our upper body strength to haul ourselves up in places where the footholds were unreliable! However, we weren’t in any real danger and there was nowhere that a slip would have had serious or fatal consequences.

After the slippery sections, the path improved and was less steep, although it still involved lots of climbing over boulders. Finally, we emerged at the summit of Barden, where there was a large area of relatively flat rock. We ate our butties and took more photos. Unfortunately, we couldn’t relax because the kleggs, the local horseflies, were harassing us!

The journey down was steep and challenging at times, especially where the path crossed boulder fields. We were pleased to reach flatter ground where there were long boardwalks across the boggy terrain. These took us back to the hut where we’d started our climb up Segla in the morning.

On the walk back through the village to Molly Moho we stopped for ice creams… I think we deserved them!